


‘Quos Amor Verus Tenuit Tenebit’

by MoonKitty



Category: The Heroes of Olympus - Rick Riordan
Genre: F/M, Fluff, Fluff and Humor, I don't usually go for the OT3, M/M, OT3 ftw, but when I do, friendshipmance!, might turn into fluff and smut
Language: English
Status: In-Progress
Published: 2014-10-28
Updated: 2015-06-29
Packaged: 2018-02-21 09:25:34
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 4
Words: 7,286
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/2463215
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/MoonKitty/pseuds/MoonKitty
Summary: <blockquote class="userstuff">
              <p>Roughly two years after the events of <i>Blood of Olympus,</i> Jason finally decides to settle things with Nico once and for all...albeit not in a way that Nico ever would have expected him to.</p>
            </blockquote>





	1. Chapter 1

**Author's Note:**

> _'Those whom true love has held, it will go on holding.'_

It was late one summer night when he was newly-turned-nineteen that Jason Grace finally decided that enough was enough.

Things had been busy, what with the way he’d been constantly moving between both camps and working to keep his promise to Kymopoleia, and for a while everything had been pretty hectic. Now though, things had fallen into as much of a routine as they ever did (minus ancient evil forces trying to destroy the world, thankfully), and a few things he hadn’t expected to happen had somehow just fallen into place, the most important of those things being Nico.

It had taken a few months and a _lot_ of rest, but Nico had recovered from overusing his shadow travel abilities, which definitely came in handy when Jason needed to move between the two camps quickly. Hazel helped out there sometimes as well, but Nico did the majority of it, for another reason: Jason had recruited him to help with the action figures and playable trading card game aspect of his promise.

Percy and Annabeth had been the ones to thank--or to blame, depending on who you asked--for that. Annabeth had suggested that Jason ask Nico for help, and Percy had let it slip that Nico had been a HUGE Mythomagic fan once upon a time, though he glanced to the side a bit as he said it, something like guilt passing over his face. Annabeth had told him the whole story later, since talking about it in front of Percy only refreshed the other teen’s feelings of helpless guilt, but Jason had gotten the picture anyway: be careful how he asked, because it might be something of a touchy subject with Nico.

Until recently, he wouldn’t have been able to resist thinking _what ISN’T a touchy subject with Nico?_ But the son of Hades had softened, if only slightly, after his return to Camp Half-Blood; at least at first. Even Jason could see that he’d moved on from a lot of what had held him back, particularly his conflicting feelings about Percy, but changing yourself wasn’t easy. Nico had been alone for so long, had been so used to shutting people out almost completely, and coming back from that would take time.

Jason had done his best to befriend the other demigod as much as possible, and working together on the Promise Project (as Percy had jokingly called it a few times, which led to everyone else using that name as well, for lack of a better one) had given him plenty of occasions to do just that, and really get to know what made Nico di Angelo tick.

Now, almost two years later, some things had changed, but some still hadn’t. There was still a sort of loneliness to Nico, and nothing Jason had tried so far had really put a dent in it. And while he might not have been nearly as perceptive about certain things as Piper, he was pretty sure he knew the source of that lingering pain and isolation.

Which was why he’d finally decided that enough was enough. He'd had _enough_ of seeing Nico stuff his hands in his pockets, hunch his shoulders, and wander off by himself whenever his friends got too couple-ish. One way or another, and once and for all, he would prove to Nico that there wasn’t anything wrong with him, and that he wasn’t alone at all.

 

* * *

  
Approaching Piper about it was actually the easy part.

They were sitting alone on a high, grassy hill, looking out over the beach and the ocean, hand in hand and with her head resting against his shoulder when he decided to just go for it and ask her outright. Nothing ventured, nothing gained, and all that sort of _carpe diem_ stuff, right? Besides, even if she didn’t agree to the idea, he didn’t think she’d hold it against him, or that it would mess up their relationship; they had been through _way_ too much for that to happen.

Jason couldn’t really think of a romantic way to bring it up, so he didn’t end up saying anything particularly smooth. In the end, he’d basically just said, _so uh, you know how you were saying that being a child of Aphrodite is about spreading the love? Well what do children of Aphrodite think about threesomes, if it’s for a good, spreading-the-love-type cause? And NO it’s not Reyna, please stop hitting me._

Once Piper knew the whole story, not only did she stop hitting him, she hugged him so tightly that for a second he had trouble breathing. She hadn’t known for certain what was up with Nico, but she’d been able to tell that he was in pain, and that the majority of that pain was some serious heartache. He needed this--needed _them_ \--even if he didn’t know that yet.

Which meant that Piper was totally all for it, even if it wasn’t quite the ‘nice steady life with a nice steady boyfriend’ that she’d originally had in mind. But hey, some things were important enough to be worth any minor complications, and Aphrodite _had_ promised her an interesting love life.

Besides, who said no to a two-for-one deal anyway?

 

* * *

 

Approaching Nico about it was the hard part.

Considering how much time they’d spent working together recently, it wasn’t difficult to get him alone, but figuring out the proper way to broach the subject was more than a little tricky. If they said the wrong thing, Nico would simply whisk himself away via shadow travel, and that would only make things worse for everyone involved. And even though Piper was better with words, they’d decided that Jason had to be the one to extend the offer--he was the one who’d guarded Nico’s secret for so long, and it was his idea in the first place, so it was only fair.

Piper had done her part by helping to set up the situation. By all appearances, it was a just a day out and about in southern California for the three demigods: first a movie (that did NOT star Tristan McLean, _thankyouverymuch_ ), then a quick stop at a café that made the best authentic Italian gelato Piper had ever tasted, then relaxing in a quiet, out-of-the-way park in the fading heat of a late summer afternoon.

They’d all finished their ice cream and had fallen into a comfortable silence, content to wander down sun-dappled paths and just enjoy the stillness of the day together, when Piper gave Jason’s shoulder a pointed nudge. He didn’t have to look over at her to know she was giving him a meaningful _now is the time to carpe that diem_ sort of look, so he cleared his throat and did just that.

“Hey, Nico?”

The youngest of the trio looked around from where he’d paused beside a trash can to dispose of his gelato cup, dark eyes slightly curious but not at all suspicious or mistrustful. Jason hoped that wouldn’t change because of what he was about to say.

“There’s actually something we wanted to talk to you about…”

Just as he had with Piper, Jason got straight to the point pretty quickly. He knew Nico well enough to know that there wasn’t anything he could say here that would simply and easily sweep the other demigod off his feet, so honesty was the best he could do.

Piper stayed supportively silent while Jason talked, though she’d nodded once or twice as she watched Nico closely for his reaction. And she definitely didn’t miss the way the dark-haired demigod’s hands slowly clenched into white-knuckled fists at his sides, his face staying coolly neutral as his eyes grew colder and more distant.

There was a heavy sort of silence in the air once Jason finished, and for a long while the only sounds were the birds in the trees, the musical bubbling of a nearby fountain, and the usual urban hum of cars and closely-packed people.

Not entirely unexpectedly, Nico was the first to break that silence.

“…You know, after working with you these past two years, I’d honestly let myself think that Jason Grace giving his word _actually meant something.”_

Jason blinked at that, visibly taken aback. “What do you—”

“You promised you wouldn’t tell anyone.” Nico’s glare was icy, his words slow and precise, which was somehow scarier than if he’d just blown up about it. _“You promised.”_

Jason, however, seemed oblivious to the chill in the younger teen’s tone. “Yeah, I did, and I’m sorry, but Piper was the only one I told.”

“Oh, I see. You’re _sorry._ You only told _one_ person. Well that makes it _totally_ fine to break your promise then.”

This time Jason unquestionably caught the dangerous note in Nico’s voice, though it would’ve been hard to miss, considering how clipped and cold his words had come out.

“Look, I didn’t want to break my promise, but I had to tell her or this wouldn’t work!”

“It isn’t going to work anyway because _it isn’t going to happen!”_ Nico hissed, dark eyes flashing as he squared off with Jason, who was growing visibly frustrated at how this exchange was going. Piper took that as her cue.

“Okay, let’s just calm down for a minute,” she said, holding up in her hands in a placating gesture, though she didn’t inject any charmspeak into her words just yet. If possible, she wanted them to figure this out _without_ having to resort to that sort of thing…though the venom in the flat stare Nico turned on her left her wondering if she’d made the right choice. He just looked so _betrayed…_

“Nico,” she began, though she had to pause for a second to find the right words. “Jason didn’t tell me because he wanted to make things worse for you. He told me because he wanted to make them better. And I’m pretty sure that we can do that, if you’ll just give us a chance.”

Nico’s frigid expression didn’t waver, but she didn’t flinch or drop her eyes, and it was Nico who looked away first.

“…You _can’t_ make it better,” he muttered as he turned his back to them, the words just loud enough for her to hear. “No one can.”

“Maybe not. But let us try, at least.” Glancing over at Jason to be sure he was aware of what she was doing, just in case Nico’s reaction was a violent one, Piper reached out and gently settled a hand on Nico’s shoulder. A second later, Jason followed suit, resting his much larger hand on the smaller teen’s other shoulder, mirroring her, neither of them taking offense at the way he’d momentarily cringed at their touch. _“…Please,”_ Piper added softly, giving his shoulder a squeeze. She half expected him to shrug them off, to pull away and shadow travel as far from their current location as possible.

…She didn’t expect to feel him start shaking beneath her hand, or for him to duck his head and bring an arm up to his face, clearly hiding a sudden rush of tears.

Mildly alarmed, she shot another look over at Jason, only to find him gazing down at Nico with a calm, steady smile. His expression was compassionate, and tender enough to make her want to feel jealous, though after everything he’d told her about Nico, she couldn’t really justify that emotion, child of Aphrodite or not.

(…Though maybe this whole situation made sense, actually, now that she thought about it. After all, Aphrodite herself had had more than one lover, so just because love wasn’t exclusive didn’t mean it wasn’t still strong or real. Piper wasn’t sure she liked that thought really, but things weren’t only true because you accepted them, and some things were facts whether you liked them or not. It was less confusing to simply decide that she didn’t mind the idea that love could be flexible, and accept it right away.)

“Nico,” Jason said, still looking (and now sounding) almost inexpressibly kind and warm. “We’re not trying to force you into anything, otherwise Piper would’ve just used her charmspeak on you from the start. And we’re not joking about this either. We talked it over, and we want to give it a try. But only if you’re willing to give it a try, too.” Reaching over, he slipped his free hand into Piper’s, turning those soft blue eyes on her now instead, his expression reassuring and grateful at the same time. “You don’t have to answer right away—”

_ “Yes.” _

The word had come so soft and swift that they weren’t sure they’d heard him correctly. Piper and Jason both blinked in surprise, exchanging a startled glance before Piper finally, hesitantly hedged, “…What did you—?”

“…I said _yes._ _**Fine.**_ I’ll…” Nico stopped, swallowed, and rephrased what he’d been about to say, though the first word of it seemed awkward in his mouth. _“We’ll_ give it a try.” He suddenly raised his head, pulling away from their hands as he turned to face them, a fierce sort of defiance in his dark eyes as they darted back and forth between the two. “But if it doesn’t work—”

Nico hadn’t been expecting this sort of proposal from the two of them in the first place, but he definitely hadn’t expected their reaction to his acceptance. He especially hadn’t expected Piper to be the one to give a jubilant whoop of delight and leap at him first, her surprisingly strong arms clamping around his upper body, a dazzling smile on her face. Half a second later, Jason had swept them both up in a massive, expansive hug, laughing with a pure, unreserved happiness that Nico couldn’t even _pretend_ to find the tiniest hint of mockery in, and spun them all around and around in celebratory circles. 

It was unanticipated and bewildering and a little overwhelming, especially the close and prolonged physical contact, and half on reflex, Nico started to struggle…then stopped, and almost instantly found himself relaxing in their embrace. Regardless of that, part of him still wondered why--how--he’d agreed to this…this _whatever-it-was._ And yet, at the same time, another part of him knew that it was because he was curious and lonely and semi-desperate enough to _belong somewhere_ that he couldn’t help giving in. 

Those might not be the best reasons, especially since they were purely selfish ones, but Jason and Piper didn’t seem to care about _why_ he’d agreed, so much as the fact that he’d agreed in the first place. And if it didn’t matter to them, then it shouldn’t matter to him, either. He’d take what they’d so freely offered; it had been so long since anyone had done something like that for him that somehow, he found that he simply couldn’t resist. 


	2. Chapter 2

Finding a place where the three of them could be alone turned out to be pretty easy. It had been the work of five minutes for Piper, armed with both her charmspeak and one of her father’s platinum credit cards, to snag them the Penthouse Suite of the newly-renovated Andaz West Hollywood. Not ten minutes after they’d first set eyes on the building, they were exploring the 1,400-square-foot suite and its living room (complete with cushy, overstuffed furniture and a huge flat screen TV), private dining area (complete with wet bar and refrigerator), open-air balcony (complete with fantastic view of the Hollywood Hills and a hot tub), bathroom (complete with marble rain shower and _another_ hot tub), and bedroom (complete with _another_ huge flat screen TV and an inviting-looking king-sized bed.)

Nico took one look at the bed and the rose petals scattered across the half-turned-down-sheets and hastily turned away, face burning. Was he really going to go through with this…this outlandish scheme of theirs? The vaguest notion of what might happen within the next few hours made his head spin a little, his pre-turn-of-the-century era mind struggling to grasp it and failing pretty spectacularly. And to make things worse, another part of him couldn’t quite accept the idea that Jason and Piper were actually serious about this. He trusted them, Jason in particular, and yet there was still a lingering anxiety that they might suddenly break out into whoops of mocking laughter and shout _JUST KIDDING! We don’t really want to do this with some weirdo loser freak like you!_

Unexpectedly, it was Piper who allayed that fear and finally put him at ease.

“Jason’s ordering room service for us, so let him know if you want anything in particular, okay?” she said as she dropped onto the couch next to Nico, the side of her body casually brushing against his as she reached around him for the TV remote. She didn’t really move away afterwards either, paying no mind to the fact that the outside of her thigh was pressed right up against his as she collapsed backwards atop the sea of decorative cushions partially covering the couch. A second later she was leaning forward again though, scooping up half a dozen of the things and depositing them straight onto the floor with a low noise of disgust.

“That’s the problem with places like this,” she muttered as she dug another cushion out from behind her back, tilting her head to study its odd, oblong shape before making a face and tossing it aside with the others. “They’re so focused on having everything look fancy, they don’t always care how comfortable it is to actually _use.”_

Nico couldn’t help quirking an eyebrow at her, though he was more amused by her comment than anything. “You’re the one who chose this place. Should you really be complaining about it?”

Piper flashed him a grin, and in a twinkling she’d snatched up one of the decorative cushions and lobbed it, point-blank but gently, at his head. “Shut up, di Angelo. We don’t all feel at home in the lap of luxury…although judging by the new, upscale interior of the Hades cabin…”

Battle-honed reflexes or not, Nico was too startled by both her teasing comment and the ‘attack’ to do anything other than duck a little to avoid taking the cushion directly in the face; as he raised his head again, he was just in time to see Piper going for another mini-pillow as she tossed out another quip.

“Don’t you think that second chandelier was a _little_ much?”

There were precisely zero chandeliers in the Hades cabin and they both knew it. But even so, the gauntlet (or in this case, the tacky throw-pillow) had been thrown: the only appropriate response was _clearly_ to grab one of the larger pillows from behind his back to use as a shield, and shoot back a wiseass retort of his own. “This coming from an inhabitant of the Barbie Dream cabin?”

Piper’s grin only widened, and she gave a little laugh as she reached for a larger pillow of her own to take a swing at him with. “If you’re really that jealous of our new, fantastically hideous pink curtains, I’m sure that we can find a set _just_ like them for you _somewhere._ In fact, as senior counselor of the Aphrodite cabin, I can say with complete sincerity that we would be more than willing to _donate—”_

The rest of whatever she’d been planning to say was abruptly cut off by a pillow to the face--Nico’s retaliatory assault--as well as a distinctly gleeful-sounding, “Shut up, McLean!”

Piper was all smiles as she shoved his pillow down and away with a playful growl, renewing her good-natured attempt at cheerfully bludgeoning him with her own pillow.

“Don’t even lie, you know you love those curtains.”

“Not as much as you love the new wallpaper in _my_ cabin.”

“Nope, I still think you should’ve gone with the race car border instead, so you could get those cute little beds to match.”

“Right, because nothing says 'classy' like cheap plastic knockoff NASCAR decorations.”

“See, you _do_ like classy places. That’s exactly why I thought you’d feel at home here.”

“This place isn’t _that_ classy. It’s not like it’s some famous, big-name hotel.”

“Hey, if you wanted to stay at the Ritz-Carlton so badly, you should’ve said something before.”

By the time Jason finished placing their room service order and came back out of the bedroom, Nico had given in completely, rising to the lighthearted challenge of Piper’s relentless assault and temporarily surrendering his usual maturity in favour of some simple, innocently childish fun. Already it had become nothing short of an all-out war, in which pillows flew fast and thick, with pauses where both combatants leaped out of cover and across the open space between them to whale on each other with oversized couch cushions, then broke away to snatch up and fling oddly-shaped throw pillows at each other again.

They were both breathless with laughter, hair mussed and eyes shining and just so damn _beautiful_ that the son of Jupiter found himself momentarily transfixed at the sight of them, unable to look away. Piper was always captivating in his eyes, even when she wasn’t trying to be; but to see _Nico_ like this, smiling and laughing and acting his age for once…it made something in Jason’s chest catch in a bittersweet sort of way.

The brief skirmish was brought to an abrupt end when Nico hurled a pillow at Piper, who intercepted it with a right cross that Jason fervently believed would’ve made Chuck Norris himself give a solemn nod of approval--because the pillow promptly exploded in a veritable snowstorm of eiderdown, showering the living room area with hundreds of tiny, fluffy feathers.

There was a moment of astonished silence where they all simply stared at each other, each with an expression that said _did that really just happen?_

Half a second later, the silence erupted into loud, helpless giggling as feathers continued to drift down and settle over the furniture, the carpet, and two of the three demigods. Piper laughed so hard her knees buckled, dropping her back onto the couch, Jason felt like he’d pulled a muscle in his gut, and Nico had tears in his eyes before their laughter tapered off into tittering chuckles.

“Look at the mess you made,” Piper snickered as she scooped up a handful of fluff and reached out to sprinkle it over the top of Nico’s head. _It suits him somehow,_ she thought, admiring the sight of the makeshift circlet of feathers crowning his dark head. _Nico **di Angelo,** indeed._

“You mean, look at the mess _you_ made,” Nico corrected her with a smirk, making a vain attempt at brushing all the pillow innards out of his shaggy hair.

“Honestly, I can’t take you two anywhere,” Jason interjected with a sigh and a mock-longsuffering roll of his eyes.

And at just that moment, there was a knock on the door and a brisk-sounding “Room service!”

All three exploded into muffled giggles again, but Jason knew that he’d better be the one to answer the door since the sight of Piper and Nico might raise a few eyebrows. Somehow he managed to keep a mostly-straight face as he tipped the guy who’d delivered the cart, waving away the offer to actually wheel it into the room for them.

He started to close the door, but re-thought it at the last second; then, with a purposeful sort of gravity, he reached around to hang the Do Not Disturb sign on the outside handle, just in case, before locking the door securely, chain and all.

“Right,” he said aloud as he turned back to the other two demigods. He’d never really wanted to be a leader, but every now and then the old praetor spirit took him, and he would seize control of a situation that he felt needed it. “Now, let’s do what we can to clean up those feathers, then we’ll see just how good the room service here is.”

They actually managed to do a pretty thorough job, leaving the feathers in a decorative bowl sitting on an end table right outside the bathroom door; Piper thought it looked a little better holding something instead of sitting there empty, and the boys agreed when she said as much aloud.

The pizza was all-vegetarian, for Piper’s sake, and not half bad, especially since that gelato had been all they’d had for lunch and it was getting close to sunset. The real prize, though, was some sort of ridiculously good chocolate cake-like dessert with warm melted chocolate in the middle, and despite all three of them putting away impressive amounts of it, there was still a little left over afterwards.

For the next few hours, they just sat together on the couch in a contented, food-coma-induced sort of haze, taking turns picking what to watch on the huge flat screen TV (which mostly resulted in flipping back and forth between old Looney Tunes episodes and the end of a _Hercules Busts Heads_ marathon). Jason had rested his arm on the back of the couch, effectively draping it across both Nico and Piper’s shoulders; Piper had her legs tucked up to her chest and was curled against Nico’s side just slightly; and Nico was comfortably slumped down between the two, enjoying the sensation of having light contact with a warm body on either side of him.

 _He felt safe,_ he realised with an inward jolt, and that realisation was almost enough to put him back on guard all over again.

Jason and Piper didn’t give him that chance, though. By the time they got bored with television, night had fallen, luring all three of them out onto the balcony. The city below had bloomed into a blazing field of lights that rivaled the shimmering expanse of stars above them, though Nico found his eyes drawn upwards (and if he was entirely truthful, sideways to the other two demigods) much more than out or down. Piper pointed out a few landmarks on the ground, then really got to show off by pointing out what they could see of the constellations instead, though the glow of Los Angeles made the real stars a lot dimmer than usual.

“We’ll have to go camping sometime,” Piper promised, “Just the three of us. I know this great place out in Oklahoma, totally in the middle of nowhere, where you can lie on your back and look up and it feels like the sky just…spreads out overhead forever.”

Nico glanced over at her, sensing that there was something special, something _more_ about the location she’d mentioned, but he didn’t press her about it. The faintly nostalgic expression on her face assured him that she’d tell him everything he wanted to know whenever they actually went there.

Somehow, he found himself hoping that it would be sooner rather than later.


	3. Chapter 3

They lingered on the balcony a while longer, then Piper made a joke about taking a look at the wet bar and disappeared back inside, leaving Nico alone with Jason. For a long while, they just stood side by side, leaning on the railing and looking out at the city below.

“Piper’s really great,” Nico said quietly once he felt the silence had stretched itself too thin. The words came out low, soft enough that the wind almost snatched them away, but Jason heard them.

“Yeah, she sure is,” he agreed, and Nico felt a pang of something like longing go through him at that tone of voice, an all-encompassing affection that was deeply steadfast and devoted without being possessive. It was love, he knew: Jason loved her wholeheartedly, and Nico didn’t doubt for an instant that Piper returned the sentiment every bit as wholeheartedly.

Which was what had him so confused, so uncertain, and why he had to say the rest of what was weighing on his mind.

“So, why…”

Nico felt his hands clenching, nails digging into his palms as he struggled to find words he wasn’t even sure he wanted to say. Hadn’t he decided that he’d simply take what they were offering, no questions asked? Why was he pushing his luck? It wasn’t like he wanted Jason to second guess this--it was just the opposite. But…he couldn’t let himself accept this, couldn’t allow himself to acclimate to this utterly unheralded and stunningly addictive warmth without some sort of reassurance that it was more than just an impulsive, spur-of-the-moment decision that Jason had made with the best of intentions, but was already starting to doubt or regret in the back of his mind.

If he was really going to let himself believe that he was safe, Nico had to know that this--whatever it was, whatever it ended up being--was secure.

“So why are you doing this?” he finally forced himself to say, unable to bring himself to look anywhere but at the railing in front of him. “You already have her, and she has you. The two of you, together…you’re already complete. You don’t need anything else.” Now that they’d started, the words wouldn’t stop pouring out, dredging up long-repressed emotions from all the years of pain and loneliness along with them. “Why would you want to risk ruining something so perfect by throwing in a—a useless, broken third wheel with nothing to offer—”

_**“HEY.”** _

Nico had rarely heard Jason speak so sharply, and shot him a startled, sideways look, only to find himself pinned in place by the steely glint in the son of Jupiter’s ice blue eyes, the expression on his face stern and commanding, almost royal.

“As vital as you were to all of us in saving the world from Gaea, you _have_ to know that you’re definitely not useless. But you’re not talking about your demigod powers, are you? You’re still hung up on being an outsider for so long--on feeling like you _had_ to be an outsider, because no one wanted you around.”

Nico opened his mouth to protest, but Jason held up a hand to silence him, and the younger teen’s jaw shut with an audible clack as the blond demigod went on.

“Well, you were wrong about that before, and you’re still wrong about it now. You have a lot to offer, Nico di Angelo, and I won’t let anyone say otherwise. Not even you yourself.”

Just a few years ago, that would have been enough to send Nico’s temper flaring into high heat, righteous anger at having his personal issues belittled fueling the flames to supernova size and intensity. _Like the noble son of the king of the gods could ever know how I felt!_

But now…there was nothing. No knee-jerk rage, no rush of resentment in response to having someone hit his current doubts and fears squarely on the head and call him out on them. Part of that was because the person doing it was Jason, someone he looked up to, admired, and trusted almost absolutely, but mostly…mostly it was because he knew that Jason _did_ know how he felt. They’d talked a fair amount the past few years, and Jason had told him how he’d struggled with who he was, albeit in a different way than Nico, how there was a time when he’d felt as if he didn’t truly belong anywhere, or with anyone. People had judged him by his godly parent, not on his own merits, and held certain expectations for him. (“It was kinda the same way with Piper, actually,” he’d added, almost as an afterthought, “but you should hear more about that from her, not me.”)

They were all three a lot more alike than he’d first thought, a fact that Nico was only now truly conscious of. _Maybe we do deserve each other after all,_ he thought, the faintest of wry smiles tugging at one corner of his mouth. Even so, he needed to hear an answer to his question, or he wouldn’t ever be entirely certain of where they stood, what this relationship was based on.

Jason reached out, grasping the smaller teen’s shoulders to gently but firmly turn Nico towards him, putting them face to face with little more than a foot of space between them.

“You want to know why we’re doing this?” 

Nico forced himself not to look away from that piercing blue gaze, swallowing hard before giving a small, silent nod.

“It’s because we care about you. We _like_ being around you. You’ve got the most incredibly sarcastic sense of humor--it’s like you always have the perfect comeback just ready and waiting for the next stupid person you run into. You look out for the people you care about, even when they don’t really deserve it, even when they’ve hurt you time and again. You’re so selfless--you don’t want to be alone, but you don’t want to make people uncomfortable, and if you think you are then you leave for their sake, which is frustrating when they don’t _actually_ want you to leave, but stupidly unselfish just the same. And, and you’ve got this _smile…”_

Nico looked up at Jason askance, his mouth falling open a little as he watched a subdued but undeniable tinge of pink rise to the blond demigod’s cheekbones, though he had to blink several times rapidly before he let himself believe what his eyes were telling him: that _Jason Grace_ was actually blushing over _him._

“When you _really_ smile, it’s like…the whole world just _stops_ for a second. I’ve never seen anything like it. It…” Jason seemed to catch himself then and gave a little cough, glancing aside with an awkward little half-smile before looking back at Nico, blush gone but a hint of sheepishness still remaining. “Anyway, that’s just scratching the surface of all the reasons we decided to do this. Sure, we don’t want you to feel like you have to be alone, or like there’s anything wrong with you…but when it all comes down to it, really…we just _want you._ All of you. Your friendship, your sarcasm, your standoffishness, your honestly pretty terrifying temper…everything.”

Nico didn’t cry in front of people often--he hated crying at all, period; doing so with an audience in attendance just made it all a thousand times worse. Even so, he’d already done it once today back in the park (which felt like a lifetime ago now, how could it have only been earlier that very same afternoon?), and now he could feel the threat of tears prickling at the backs of his eyes once again.

As if somehow sensing that inner struggle, Jason gave his shoulders a supportive sort of squeeze, then gave him an affectionate little shake, the broad smile on his face making the scar on his lip pull in a way that was both eye-catching and somehow tempting.

“Is that a good enough answer for you?”

A cautious sort of relief slowly swelled within him as Nico looked up into those twinkling blue eyes, and he could feel a wide, honest smile spreading across his face as a flood of happiness and _hope_ surged through him. It was a risk, he knew, any sort of meaningful relationship was, but even so, he wanted to belong here with them more than he’d wanted anything in years, which made it worth the danger. He was no oracle, he had no magic blade to gaze into for a glimpse of the future, but something about this just felt _right._

“Yeah,” he said, beaming up at the older teen with a smile that was literally breathtaking. “I think it’ll do.”

The pink tinge was back in his cheeks even as Jason gave a snort of laughter and shook Nico again, a little harder this time, then let go of his shoulders entirely…and Nico gave a start as Jason took his hand instead, pulling him back towards the door to the suite.

“Come on, then. We’ve kept Piper waiting for us long enough.”


	4. Chapter 4

Piper wasn’t in the sitting area, and a quick glance showed that she wasn’t in the kitchen either.  
  
“Pipes?” Jason called, coming to a stop in the middle of the room.  He didn’t want to barge in on her if she wasn’t ready for them or something.  
  
“In here!” she called back from the bedroom, and Jason headed that way, Nico in tow.  
  
Which was just as well, since Nico was tremendously distracted by the simple but somehow deeply satisfying feeling of holding hands with someone he liked, and who apparently liked him back.  He hoped his hand wasn’t cold and dead-fish clammy and gross, because Jason’s was warm and dry and comfortable and _perfect,_ as well as big enough to make the smaller demigod feel protected, somehow.  He could feel himself flushing, and part of him almost despaired a little, because if he couldn’t handle something as straightforward and innocent as this, how in Hades was he going to make it through the rest of the night and whatever else Jason and Piper had planned?  He forced himself to focus on the present though, taking a few deep breaths and telling himself that it would be okay, that he’d been through Tartarus alone and there was nothing about any of this that should scare him more than that had (except it still totally did).  
  
Even so, he’d basically managed to calm himself down by the time Jason pulled him through the bedroom door, then came to a stop abrupt enough that Nico bumped into him.  Blinking, the younger demigod looked up at him questioningly, then further into the bedroom itself—  
  
Just in time to watch Piper make a show of pulling her shirt up over her head.  
  
Nico’s initial impulse was to avert his eyes, Old World manners automatically asserting themselves before he reminded himself that this was part of what they were here for.  Curiosity got the better of him in the end anyway, and his eyes traced her every movement as she unbuttoned her jeans, her hands and the rapt gazes of both boys running over the curves of her hips and down her smooth-looking thighs as she pushed the worn denim down inch by tantalizingly-slow inch.  
  
Before long she was wearing nothing but a plain black crop-top cami and a pair of matching black boycut briefs which left a significant portion of her flat, smoothly-muscled stomach and all of her long, shapely legs bare.  Nico hadn’t expected to have any sort of reaction, to feel any real physical attraction to her--he knew Piper was beautiful, had known it from the first time he’d seen her, but it had always been similar to the way he knew a sunset or a snow-capped mountain range was beautiful: a clinical, or at least not carnal sort of observation.  But now… Nico felt his mouth go dry as he looked at her, his grip on Jason’s hand tightening as a thrum of desire resonated somewhere deep inside him, and he suddenly realized that he wanted her every bit as much as he wanted Jason.  He wanted them both, equally.  
  
He wasn’t sure if that made him more of a freak, or less of one.  
  
His thoughts trailed off into something like static as Piper came to stand in front of him, pushing his jacket back off his shoulders, at which point Jason let go of his hand, reaching up to pull the well-worn bomber jacket off the rest of the way.  Nico had no idea how she did it, but somehow Piper made something as ridiculously simple as taking off his t-shirt a pulse-quickeningly sensual experience, what with the way she slowly drew the edge of it upwards, her fingertips trailing over his sides as she did so, making him shiver a bit at the sensation.  Again Jason assisted once she’d gotten it up over Nico’s shoulders, those large, gentle hands guiding the smaller teen’s visibly-scared arms through the shirt sleeves with a patient sort of tenderness.  His height also made him just tall enough to drop an affectionate, almost teasing kiss on the top of Nico’s head before all three of them worked together to pull that shirt off completely.  
  
When he could see something besides black cotton again, Nico found Piper kneeling in front of him, her hands reaching for his belt.  This was completely new ground, and for a moment he forgot that he wasn’t supposed to be as skittish about being touched any more; his hands shot out on reflex, closing around her wrists just as she finished unbuckling his battered black canvas belt, and he could feel his face flooding with hot, embarrassed colour.  
  
“I can—” he began, his voice tight, but although she hadn’t kept going when he’d stopped her, the soft sincerity in the look she angled up at him stopped him in turn.  
  
“I know,” Piper murmured, and without a hint of charmspeak, because she wanted to be absolutely certain that Nico _did_ really want this.  She and Jason weren’t out to force this on him, or do anything to him that he didn’t want done.  “We’ll take it slow.  We don’t have to go any farther than you’re comfortable with.  Tell us to stop, and we’ll stop, no matter what, no hurt feelings, no questions asked.  Promise.”  Her thumbs began to rub tiny, distracting little circles on his skin, right above the just-visible waistband of his boxers, which made it damnedly hard to think straight.  “Just…let us do this much for you, at least.”  
  
Nico hesitated, but the steady earnestness in Piper’s gaze and the reassuring weight and warmth of Jason’s hands resting on his now-bare shoulders found a chink in the otherwise-unassailable barriers he still put between himself and everyone else more often than not.  His grip on Piper’s wrists loosened, then went completely slack as he gave a minute nod, though the intensity of the colour in his face didn’t lessen.  
  
Piper flashed him an impishly crooked smirk, guiding his hands up to rest on her shoulders, so he’d have something to hold onto while she returned her attention to undressing him.  He wasn’t quite sure where to look as she unbuttoned his jeans, though he could feel her looking up at him as she slowly unzipped them.  He couldn’t help tensing a bit again as she grasped the waistband of his pants, gradually tugging them down, revealing dark blue boxer shorts that (he was relieved to note) she made no move towards taking off just yet.  
  
Jason’s hands slid down from where they’d rested on Nico’s shoulders, slipping around the smaller teen’s chest, gently pulling him back against the taller demigod’s firm, solid frame, supporting Nico both literally and mentally as Piper helped him step out of his pants.  
  
She still left his boxers alone, though before long he was almost _(almost)_ wishing that she hadn’t.  The light, teasing contact of her fingers running up and down his inner thighs, the way she seemed to touch him everywhere _but_ Right There, the brush of her lips moving lightly along the waistband of his boxers to press a lingering kiss to one of the hollows of his hips: it was all new, and pleasurable, and left him wanting more, something solid and firm rather than light and evasive.

Nonetheless, he still started a bit when her tongue flicked out to catch on his bellybutton, but then she stood, kissing her way up his chest and leaving toothmarks on his collarbone even as her hands came up to grasp his, and Nico followed without objection as she backed away, slowly pulling him towards the bed.


End file.
